Teaching

iCat

The iCat research platform is a plug & play desktop user-interface robot developed by Philips Research (Eindhoven, the Netherlands). The iCat is a user-interface robot without an on-board processor. It can be controlled by a PC via USB.

The iCat can create facial expressions such as emotional displays by moving its eyebrows, eyelids, eyes, lips, and the head. It can communicate its mode of operation (e.g. sleeping, awake, busy, or listening) via LEDs located in the feet and the ears. The USB webcam in the nose of iCat can be used for different computer vision tasks, such as object and face recognition. Stereo microphones, a loudspeaker and a soundcard placed in the feet of iCat are used for playing sounds and speech. Thus, it is possible to record speech and to use it for speech recognition and understanding tasks.